Free: Presidents Day at the National Parks

Over 100 entrance fee-charging parks will waive admission on Monday, Feb. 20.

BUCKET LISTS... get a lot of play near the start of the year, in large part because our resolutions are so strongly tied to our future goals, must-dos, and dream accomplishments. And while the sort of day-to-day resolutions we make about our health, our sleep, our work, and our relationships obviously hold a lot of water, the visions we hold in our heart, and slightly out-sized daydreams, have a lot of resolution-based cred, too. And if travel-based articles regularly catch your attention — like train trips that call upon major landmarks and adventurers who visit every state capitol over the course of a year — perhaps it is time to mull over your get-out, see-America plans. And if one of those plans is to visit every national park (yep, that's a big one), or at least visit every national park in California, well, there are some very helpful days on the calendar to note. These are the...

FEE-FREE DAYS, where well over 100 national parks, monuments, and historic sites tell at-the-gate fees "goodbye" and "so long," at least for a day or two. The first fee-free day of 2017 has happened — it was on Jan. 16, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day — but the next is just ahead. It's Presidents Day, which falls on Monday, Feb. 20, and spots like Yosemite National Park and Joshua Tree National Park will waive fees and wave nature fans on through, no wallet-opening required. And if you really want to fell-swoop a few parks over a few days, for free (at least "for free" at the entrance), note that there are a full four free days coming up in April, in honor of National Park Week. They don't happen concurrently, but rather on April 15 and 16 and April 22 and 23, but bet you could get mighty bucket-list-y within that quartet of days, as far as finally visiting a slew of national parks goes. You can do it. This is your year. Break out the maps.

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